US Cost of Living Hits Record, Passing Pre-Crisis High

A special index created by the Labor Department to measure the actual cost of living for Americans hit a record high in February, according to data released Thursday, surpassing the old high in July 2008. The Chained Consumer Price Index, released along with the more widely-watched CPI, increased 0.5 percent to 127.4, from 126.8 in January. In July 2008, just as the housing crisis was tightening its grip, the Chained Consumer Price Index hit its previous record of 126.9.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42130406

Currency Meltdown Coming

The situation in Japan is getting worse, not better. There are shortages in food, fuel and warm dry shelter. To make matters exponentially worse, nuclear power plants there continue to burn out of control and emit high levels of radiation. Japan is a stark reminder of how fast a modern technologically advanced society can be brought to its knees by an unforeseen calamity.

http://usawatchdog.com/currency-meltdown/

Enron Accounting: D.C. Politicians "Just Wasting Time" on Budget, BU's Kotlikoff Says

The Senate on Thursday is expected to pass another continuing resolution that will fund the government until April 8 and avert a shutdown. But that won't solve the need for a budget to fund the remainder of the fiscal year, much less address America's true fiscal woes, says Boston University economics professor Laurence Kotlikoff.
The ongoing budget debate in Washington is "really a food fight between Democrats and Republicans in order to shield what's going on, which is we are stealing from our kids," Kotlikoff says. "What these guys in Washington are doing is just wasting time."

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/enron-accounting-d.c.-politicians-%22just-wasting-time%22-on-budget-bu%27s-kotlikoff-says-536041.html;_ylt=A2KJjammK4JNUD4AqJOTmYlQ?tickers=^DJI,^GSPC,TBT,TLT,XLV,GLD,TIP&sec=topStories&pos=10&asset=&ccode=

U.S. Debt and Deficits Ensure Violent Dollar Sell-Off Ahead

Monetization can be done in two ways. First, there is outright monetization as is now being conducted by the Fed through its POMO program; that is, its daily purchase of $4–$8 billion of Treasury debt. Indeed, the Fed’s QE2 bond purchases have been so massive that it is literally buying Treasury paper in the secondary market almost as fast as new bonds are being issued. During January, for example, fully 40% of the Fed’s $100 billion bond buy was from CUSIP numbers less than 90 days old.

Needless to say, putting brand new treasury bonds in the Fed’s vault before they have paid even a single coupon is functionally equivalent to printing greenbacks. After all, under this type of high-speed round trip, virtually all the coupons from newly issued bonds will end up as incremental profit at the Fed and be remitted back to the Treasury at year end.

Stated differently, in the present era of massive quantitative easing, newly issued Treasury securities amount to non-interest bearing currency without the circulation privilege.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26902.html

It's Not Your Imagination: The Number Of Disasters Just Keeps Rising

The seventh largest quake ever occurred this week. The eighth largest quake occurred last year. The third largest quake occurred in 2004. Add to this hurricanes and floods, and it seems like natural disasters are on the rise

http://www.businessinsider.com/rise-of-natural-disasters-2011-3

US backing for world currency stuns markets

US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner shocked global markets by revealing that Washington is "quite open" to Chinese proposals for the gradual development of a global reserve currency run by the International Monetary Fund.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5050407/US-backing-for-world-currency-stuns-markets.html#

The Silver Door Is Closing

A time will come when the value of silver is so strong and the value of the dollar so weak, that only a fool would ever trade silver for the dollar.

http://dont-tread-on.me/the-silver-window-is-closing/